The present invention is related basically to farm implements for producing a finished or prepared seed bed after previous cultivating operations and more particularly to such implements utilized to prepare the seed bed simultaneously as the cultivating operation is taking place.
Present operations in preparing soil between spring crop or fall crop plantings involve the practice of loosening the ground with a disc harrow working at three to four inch depths. Following the discing operation, some other operation is performed to level the field and prepare it for planting. The problem with this operation is that the soil is tilled fairly shallow and is subject to erosion. If a chisel plow is utilized, the erosion problem can be substantially reduced. However, such chisel plows normally leave the ground with large clods of dirt that tend to seal off the surface and render it a difficult task to eventually work the rough soil into a prepared seed bed. Usually, several other steps are performed to bring the roughened soil into a prepared condition for planting. This process usually involves passing over the field several different times with different implements to break up the clods and level the soil for planting. If a substantial length of time passes between the initial cultivating operation and the final soil conditioning operation, the soil may dry or possibly become eroded, hampering the subsequent conditioning operations.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,200,631 to Merlich discloses a soil conditioner combined with a spring tooth harrow for loosening and preparing previously plowed ground for use as a seed bed. The device includes a reel rotatably mounted on a frame with axial blade members extending along the reel and spiraling partially about the reel axis. The blades are set to operate at a prescribed distance below the ground surface adjacent to a transverse knife carried below the blades. Therefore, as the apparatus is drawn along the ground, the reel rotates, bringing the blades into engagement with and penetrating the ground while moving past the relatively stationary knife to complete the soil conditioning operation. The edges of the blades are spaced at a fixed radius from the axis of the reel. We have found through experimentation that this arrangement tends to allow clogging of the adjacent blades with the compacted dirt. Further, the transverse knife that is carried below the blades increases the possibility of clogging.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,569,464 granted to Edwards et al. discloses an agricultural crust-busting implement. This implement is drawn behind a tractor in fields already having a crop growing therein. The implement also utilizes a spaced number of reels rotating about a transverse axis. The reels have ground-engaging axial blades thereon. These blades however, are also spaced at a fixed radius from the reel axis and will therefore become easily clogged with compacted dirt.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,692,120 to Cline discloses a tilling apparatus. This apparatus utilizes the combination of a chisel plow and a pulverizing reel behind the plow for breaking up clods created by the plow and a leveling blade mounted behind the pulverizing wheel for smoothing the soil surface. The Cline apparatus, like most of the above-cited arrangements, is comprised of a number of reels mounting a plurality of radially-extending blades thereon for rotation about a horizontal transverse axis. The blade edges are spaced a common fixed distance from the axis and will easily clog with hardened dirt clods tilled by the chisel plow.
It is the purpose of the present invention to provide a soil conditioning device in combination with a cultivating implement for efficiently producing a prepared seed bed behind the cultivator. This is accomplished by providing radial blades on a plurality of reels that are rotatable about a horizontal axis behind the cultivating implement. The blades are arranged on the reels in two sets, with each blade of one set being angularly located midway between adjacent blades of the other set. Both sets of blades include ground-engaging edges, with the edges of one set spaced at a first radius from the axis. The edges of the remaining set are spaced a second radius from the axis that is less than the first radius. With this arrangement, the condition will break up large dirt clods without becoming clogged with compacted soil between adjacent blades.